On Thursday 29th September, Year 2 went to the Florence Nightingale Museum in London. We went by train and had lunch in St Thomas' hosiptal before our workshop. We were greeted by Miss Nightingale and talked to about her young life and her experiences as a nurse. We took part in different activities to compare nurses in the past to present day nurses, look at historical artefacts and consider what they may have been used for and also given time to explore the museum and sketch things that interested us.

We got to act out parts of Florence's life and some of us even dressed up as a nurse / soldier from the Crimean War / Scutari Hospital.

The trip was good fun as well as helpful to our understanding of our History topic this half term.

On Thursday 9th June our Year 5 and 6 cricket team went to play in the Bexley Mixed Kwik Cricket qualifying rounds at Hurstmere.

After a team talk with Mr McCabe the first team started their first match against Hurst. The children communicated well with each other but did struggle to gain their runs. Unfortunately, West Lodge lost this match against Hurst.

We then played our second match against Dulverton. After discussing tactics and any issues that arose in the first game the children worked much better both with their fielding and with their batting. West Lodge won this game.

In high spirits West Lodge were ready to play their final match against Barrington. The children gave everything in this game, with some lovely fours scored and very accurate fielding and catching. West Lodge won this game.

After all three matches were played West Lodge then found out they came second overall in the qualifying rounds and were therefore through to the District Finals next week.

Thank you to Mr Hankin for driving the minibus and to Mr McCabe and Miss Ayling for support the team. We look forward to the District Finals next week!

On Friday 10th June, high from our successful qualifying in the Bexley tournament the previous day, our Year 5 and 6 cricket team went to compete in the ISA London South Kwik Cricket tournament at Virgo Fidelis.

Despite it being a very sunny and hot day, the children were in high spirits and ready for the cricket matches ahead. Our first match was against Elmhurst. West Lodge drew to field first and produced some very good on target bowling. West Lodge played well but Elmhurst were the stronger team who won 264 runs to203.

West Lodge then played Virgo Fidelis B team. We batted first and were taking a lot more risks to run if we hit the ball. We also scored some good 4s and even some 6s! It was then our turn to bowl which was accurate, on target and very rarely wide or a no ball! The team fielded well, catching some of the other team out, and West Lodge won 260 runs to 206.

We then found out our final match was for us to place third overall. We were up against Oakfield B team. Despite already playing 2 matches the team were still as energetic as they were at the start and drew to field first. Again, West Lodge proved their skill with some quick bowling but Oakfield did still manage to hit a lot of 4s and 6s. West Lodge were then up to bat, and quickly matched the amount of 4s and 6s hit. In the last over it could very much go either way. West Lodge kept calm and produced some accurate hits and good calling, and we won 280 runs to 272, a very close match.

West Lodge therefore came third overall in the tournament. The teams played wonderfully and enjoyed their day. Thank you to Miss Ayling for accompanying the team and to Mr Pring for driving the minibus and also supporting the team.

On Wednesday 15th June our Year 5 and 6 cricket team went up to Sidcup Cricket Club ready for the Bexley District Finals with 15 other schools competing. We were given our group and found out we were to play St Stephens, Fosters and Barnehurst. At 1pm the games began. After a pep talk from Mr McCabe and some warm up bowling and throwing on target West Lodge were ready and eager to win. They performed some brilliant and strategic batting and managed to bowl and catch some of the other team out. West Lodge won the first game 239 runs to 189. We then played our second game against Fosters primary. Again, the children worked brilliantly as a team with some strong bowling. Credit must go to Walton who made the most outstanding catch from 3 ft off the ground and with one hand fully outstretched! West Lodge won 251 runs to 216. We then found out we were up against some of the favourites to win, Barnehurst. West Lodge fought hard but their team was very strong and unfortunately we lost 201 runs to 238.

We then found out we came second overall in our group so were then moved onto a different pitch to play our last two matches. We were up against St Olaves, who we have played in a variety of sports. Both teams were equally eager and equally matched for this game, it was incredibly close and hard to tell. West Lodge just managed to pull ahead with 216 runs to 211, only a 5 run difference. West Lodge then found out they were playing for 5th place overall. We played Mayplace, who were a very strong team again. Unfortunately, our team were starting to tire by this point. We kept working hard on making our bowling on target and by working together to field, but Mayplace did beat us with 225 runs to 200. They made some very good wickets and catches which lost us runs.

Overall, West Lodge placed 6th out of 16 schools which was a fantastic achievement, and was definitely down to all the hard work the team have put in this term and all their practice in previous qualifying heats and tournaments. Special thanks must go to Mr McCabe for coaching the team and to Miss Ayling for support the team.

Year 2 visited Leeds Castle on 8th June 2016 in connection with their Science topics this year.

Before their workshop, the children were given a guided tour of the castle and learnt lots of interesting facts about the history of the castle. They were particularly taken with the murder holes and the use of the moat water for bathing despite having been toiletted in!

After lunch (another highlight of any school trip!) the children then took part in a drama workshop retelling the story of Sybil the Cygnet who tries to find her parents once she has hatched and meets lots of other creatures with very different habitats along the way. The children really enjoyed dressing up for this activity and remembered the story well.

The children saw lots of species of bird whilst walking through the grounds and learnt about how they attract their mates and where they nest. They also learnt the different names for the males and females and young.

We were blessed with beautiful weather for the day and the children were full of the information they had learnt at school on Thursday.